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all I know is the only time I've seen AG he was all clean, sippin a Starbucks, looking pretty solidly Southern Californian!
I wonder if Aaron just found out the mansion life isn't all what it's cracked up to be when you're a traveling athlete and technically not spending that much time in a place you put so much money into. Orrr this was the plan all along. Not that he could see Covid happening, but it's not like California property gets devalued by anything short of a total economic collapse. Covid may have just been the tipping point in realizing he didn't want to be in the state with its political climate any longer, plus he could finally justify getting the highest price possible for a place like this.
At the same time, may have missed the bubble of very wealthy east coast and/or foreign investors grabbing tons of houses out here and such. I feel like with the over inflation of CA's housing market that awkward gold rush land grab from wealthy outsiders ship has kinda sailed.
Also I know the area suits him (contrary to the weird comment about not being a good place to bro out, lmao have you been to Murrieta!?) but still Murrieta is kind of an annoying drive to get to the trails he likes (mostly Orange County/Laguna). Maybe Gwinna just had a big flex moment (this was right before proposing was it not?) and the shine has dulled since finishing it. Especially for the price, with his money he could have 2-3 places like this in states that aren't CA.
That Laguna one just gets a lot of "press" because it has access to some great trails and people willing go to it (avoiding all the other great places to ride) and then have a cry on social media about how they got caught. I dunno, I don't have sympathy to them the same way skaters and BMXers who press their luck get ticketed when they can just ride all the amazing skateparks we have now or just ride less risky illegal spots. These people are seriously leaning over and putting their hand pump through their own spokes and then blaming government/police.
It's push and pull. There was a lot of MTB advocacy groups fighting tooth and nail for trail access 10-20 years ago. Now with all of the MTB legal as well as MTB specific options opening up, including new bike parks and jump/pump tracks, those advocacy groups are dying down and we are losing trail access in affluent areas with upset Karens who live near the trailhead. It is what it is. But SoCal is an AMAZING place for MTBing, MX, BMX, basically all action sports (for rather obvious reasons).
Where I live, near the Sierra National Forest, we have an MTB club that actively maintains a huge trail network on national forest lands (with permission from USFS), and we were granted access to private property owned by Southern California Edison (utility provider) to build a massive network of legit DH trails like this one...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOFmHEzsds&t=371s.
SCE literally gave us our own keys to the gate and allowed moto access to quickly reach trail work areas. And a generous donor to the club just bought us a mini excavator to accelerate the trail building process. The next phase starts this summer, and we'll be adding 2 or 3 more new trails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D736qcCHlBM
Gwin is a SoCal native, born and raised. For him to move to Tennessee? That seems like a business decisions, not a "I love Tennessee it just warms my heart" kind of decision.
Lauren is from Montana, so here again, hard to see the Tennessee draw.
The only angle I can figure out is that she wants to be a SAHM and Gwin would need some seriously steady income to pay for the place in California, where as in Tennessee he could probably pay all cash for a place and let some investments cover the taxes. Then again, he probably would've done that in California, too.
I always love watching Aaron's success and he's a consummate businessman so I'm sure he's positioning for new adventures.
To quote Chris Herting of Yeti Cycles on their move from SoCal to Colorado;
"All I need is one trip back to Cali to realize how shitty it is there and how great it is here.”
Make some money in Ca; then bail somewhere that is cheaper, less crowded, and leaves you alone.
Best decision I have ever made.
As for this Gwinny pad, man, what a primo spot. My wife and I owned 5 acres down the street from his spot, we were going to build our dream house too (2004-2005?) as La cresta is unrivaled for its beauty and serenity (for being in so cal) we ended up stopping right before we broke ground, but always love visiting friends in La Cresta and knowing exactly where Gwin built, its safe to say that place is the crown jewel of the community. Well done to you Gwin on building such a gorgeous home and doing what you want/need to do.
The craziness of SoCal during the pandemic really stuck with him.
He can have a place in Montana & in Knoxville for way cheaper and all of it be way less stressful than SoCal.
The amount of stress that the multiplication of humans in my small corner of the world has created is nuts. Can't imagine what that kind of human expansion would do to my nerves in a place like where he is.
A 100 acre lot just sold for $250k that backs up to Windrock and a group of bros snagged it up and live nowhere near it.
The place they bought is near nothing. It's probably got 100 years of shady mining operations done in and around it. It's not far from the nuclear plant.
But...you can use all your toys, see no one, answer to no one and have an off grid good time.
thank you for your vigilance, soldier!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdO5hYEB4t1/
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